We’ve talked before about how shorter is the new black in the video world. How do you do that, still get your message across, AND rise above the noise of millions of videos being uploaded every hour? The key is zeroing in on your digital marketing goals and partnering with the right influencers who are expert in live streaming on YouTube and creating YouTube Shorts.

I mean, you could throw a ton of content on your brand’s channel and see what sticks. However, identifying and creating Influencer Marketing campaigns focused on objectives is what drives huge ROI.

Why You Should Include Live Streaming on YouTube and YouTube Shorts in Your Influencer Marketing Plans

YouTube is the second biggest search engine behind Google, and according to some, the leading social media platform. But, as big and popular as YouTube is, it’s also a very crowded space. Out of the 2.3 billion YouTube users, at least 37 million have YouTube channels and post videos. Competition for views is outrageously high. To stay ahead of that competition, you’ve got to plug into the trends, like live streaming and Shorts. Both of these tools offer advantages that can put you ahead of the pack.

Live Streaming Benefits

For brands and agencies, live streaming in partnership with influencers offers multiple opportunities, like:

  • Forming connections with respected “weblebrities,” gaining “street cred” with their audiences
  • Responding directly to audience members’ questions in what they perceive as a more relaxed environment
  • Growing their audiences, bringing in followers who prefer this method of interaction
  • Reducing costs, since live-streaming to multiple audiences simultaneously, even across time zones, saves travel, lodging, and security fees
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Beyond that, other potential benefits include:

  • Collaboration and chemistry

Take two separate influencers and put them together in one livestream video, and what do you get? 

  • Organic growth for the influencers, as their separate audiences interact with each other and channels they might not have otherwise have engaged with
  • Discovery of new, relevant content for audiences
  • Discovery of new audiences for brands
  • Traction

You can recycle the filmed content after a livestream is over and upload it like a regular video. This can give you traction beyond the small time window of the livestream. If it gets you the engagement you want, you can use excerpts from it to build anticipation for future livestreams.

YouTube Shorts Benefits

Shorter videos are also definitely rising in popularity. YouTube Shorts are videos up to 60 seconds in length. You have the options to record in 15-second intervals and use editing tools.

A  May 2020 Statista survey found that 79% of respondents said that they liked short-form mobile videos because they “pulled them into characters, personalities, and storylines.” 

Beyond that, Shorts may also provide these benefits for brands:

  • Easier to create: They’ve got to be digestible, which means simplified and straightforward. Considering that they can only last for a minute or less, YouTube Shorts do not require as much effort by influencers as full-length videos. 
  • Cost less: Shorts can potentially cost less, depending on how amazing you want those 60 seconds to be.

Potential for mass production: The video’s digestibility could lead to the creation of more videos, thus increasing views by improving search relevance. Because Shorts require more brevity, broader topics can be divided into their individual components. How about a Best Game Day Meals compilation, with cards leading to the Shorts of the individual recipes, each done by a separate foodie influencer? The short-and-sweet compilation could be a synergistic, cross-channel bonanza!

Why Live Stream or Create Short Videos on YouTube Versus Other Social Media Platforms?

Say you’re convinced of the need to increase the amount of live streams in your marketing strategy. Why live stream on YouTube as opposed to other social media channels? And, what kind of live streams do best on YouTube?

Research shows that live stream topics that relate to news, gaming, or sports do best on YouTube. However, we all know there’s much more to YouTube than just news, games, or sports. Plenty of possibilities exist for your livestream topics. Note that, many influencers prefer YouTube because of its broad popularity and tools like live chat moderation.

3 Ways to Hit Live Streaming and Shorts Objectives

These three tips ensure you meet your Influencer Marketing campaign objectives via YouTube Live Streaming and Shorts.

1. Choose the right influencers.

Whether you’re a small business or large corporation, partner with influencers who best represent your brand’s products, services, and image. If you’re a small business candlemaker that provides a fair-trade product, for example, partner with niche influencers who’ve built their reputation around social causes. If you’re a large corporation promoting exercise wear, partner with fitness influencers.

However, if your goal is to get just the right influencers for your campaign, look beyond their niches and followers. Review their feeds for creative approaches and authentic connections between the products they tout and their real lives.

2. Give your influencers license to produce creative content that drives engagement.

Giving your influencers a script to follow is a big “no” in the Influencer Marketing industry. Instead, provide them with key message points and your desired calls-to-action. Then, let them use their creativity to connect with their target market in meaningful ways for your brand.  

3. Provide the right hashtags and keywords to your influencers so that they can optimize their videos and drive organic search results.

Wrap It All Up

You could produce long videos for your brand’s YouTube channel that are laborious for you to create and even more laborious for viewers to watch. Or, you could engage influencers to do the heavy lifting for you in shorter nuggets. Doing so not only saves you time and money but also decreases internet “clutter,” making your brand more credible, authentic, and findable. 

YouTube, of all the places to live stream or provide short-form videos, is the best place for those kinds of videos. And, if you pick the right YouTube influencers and give them what they need to help you accomplish your goals and they theirs, you’ve definitely got a recipe for success!

Sources

What Successful Influencer Marketing in Pinterest Means
6 Ways to Do Facebook Influencer Marketing That You Haven't Thought of Before
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